The University of Colorado Boulder today announced that Ryan Chreist has been named assistant vice chancellor for alumni relations. Chreist, who most recently served as the director of recruitment, operations and system integration for the CU-Boulder Office of Admissions, starts this week.

The landscape of Denver’s Westwood neighborhood is changing. Squash, tomatoes, chiles, spinach and melons are sprouting up in backyards. Family members are tending to their gardens and harvesting their own fresh food. And community members are working side-by-side to help transform their neighborhood from its designation as a “food desert”—the United States Department of Agriculture’s term to classify densely populated, low-income areas that lack easy access to healthy food—to a model of urban sustainability.

Donors gave a record $258.8 million to the University of Colorado system during the past fiscal year. Nearly 2,500 programs were supported by nearly 50,000 individuals, with about half these funds, or $128.8 million, donated through the University of Colorado Foundation. Approximately $130 million in private support was given directly to the university and the CU Real Estate Foundation. The total raised exceeds the previous record set in 2012 by 13 percent.

Community Notes

Two finalists for the position of Institutional Research Director in the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis (PBA) will be on campus for interviews this week. Please join us for open forums with the finalists, hosted in Regent Hall 1B29, the PBA conference room. Finalist Christopher Ferland will be available on Tuesday, July 23 from 3 - 3:45 p.m., and finalist Kathy Felts will be available on Friday, July 26 from 3:30-4:15 p.m. Learn more about PBA's Institutional Analysis at http://www.colorado.edu/pba/misc/iaintro.htm.

On August 16 the Environmental Center will host a full-day training on how to give CU-Boulder Physics Professor Al Bartlett's pivotal presentation on the impacts of exponential growth. The training will cover topics such as mathematics of exponential growth, fossil fuels, climate change, and skills to present on sensitive topics. The cost for the training will be minimal, but trainees will be required to present the material three times a year. You can find all application materials and additional information on the Environmental Center website.

The premiere of the ATLAS Boulder Box Set music/entertainment series, featuring folk/rock musicians Andy Hill and Renée Safier, has been recognized with a prestigious Heartland Chapter Emmy Award for Daniel Mercure, who was the Rocky Mountain PBS post production director of the show. Boulder Box Set is a music/entertainment series that features performances captured live in high definition in the ATLAS Black Box, and CU and ATLAS students and staff participated in the recording.

Researchers from the Social and Affective Neuroscience lab at CU Boulder are seeking healthy males between 18 and 55 years of age for a study on the mechanisms underlying how one's personal values affect their medical care experience. Participants will earn between $30-$40.

Not sure where to start with hiring student employees? Learn how to write a job anouncement that will attract students who have the skills needed for the job. Questioning, selecting, and interviewing techniques will be taught as well as practiced. Minimum 10 participants.

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City of Boulder lifts fire restrictions on Open Space & Mountain Parks lands and lifts ban on use of charcoal grills in city parks

After several weeks of wetter weather and a reduction in the immediate fire danger, the City of Boulder has removed the City Manager’s Rule banning all sources of fire and smoking on all Open Space & Mountain Parks (OSMP) Department properties and has lifted the ban on use of charcoal grills in city parks.